Bayesian networks are parametric models for multidimensional domains exhibiting complex dependencies between the dimensions (domain variables). A central problem in learning such models is how to regularize the number of parameters; in other words, how to determine which dependencies are significant and which are not. The normalized maximum likelihood (NML) distribution or code offers an inform...

Bayesian networks are parametric models for multidimensional domains exhibiting complex dependencies between the dimensions (domain variables). A central problem in learning such models is how to regularize the number of parameters; in other words, how to determine which dependencies are significant and which are not. The normalized maximum likelihood (NML) distribution or code offers an inform...

We consider Bayesian and information-theoretic approaches for determining non-informative prior distributions in a parametric model family. The information-theoretic approaches are based on the recently modiied deenition of stochastic complexity by Rissanen, and on the Minimum Message Length (MML) approach by Wallace. The Bayesian alternatives include the uniform prior, and the equivalent sampl...

In this paper, Spike-and-Slab Dirichlet Process (SS-DP) priors are introduced and discussed for non-parametric Bayesian modeling and inference, especially in the mixture models context. Specifying a spike-and-slab base measure for DP priors combines the merits of Dirichlet process and spike-and-slab priors and serves as a flexible approach in Bayesian model selection and averaging. Computationa...

A Bayesian network is a directed acyclic graph in which each node represents a variable and each arc a probabilistic dependency; they are used to provide: a compact form to represent the knowledge and flexible methods of reasoning. Obtaining it from data is a learning process that is divided in two steps: structural learning and parametric learning. In this paper we define an automatic learning...

This paper presents a Bayesian nonlinear approach for the analysis of spatial count data. It extends the Bayesian partition methodology of Holmes, Denison, and Mallick (1999, Bayesian partitioning for classification and regression, Technical Report, Imperial College, London) to handle data that involve counts. A demonstration involving incidence rates of leukemia in New York state is used to hi...

Bayesian networks are parametric models for multidimensional domains exhibiting complex dependencies between the dimensions (domain variables). A central problem in learning such models is how to regularize the number of parameters; in other words, how to determine which dependencies are significant and which are not. The normalized maximum likelihood (NML) distribution or code offers an inform...

We develop a PAC-Bayesian bound for the convergence rate of a Bayesian variant of Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) that is an estimation method for the sparse additive model. Standard analyses for MKL require a strong condition on the design analogous to the restricted eigenvalue condition for the analysis of Lasso and Dantzig selector. In this paper, we apply PAC-Bayesian technique to show that ...

The first issue is whether one ought to use of Bayesian or Classical methods of inference. I will briefly cover Bayesian methods which have been revitalized given recent developments in monte carlo simulation and numerical integration. Nevertheless, Bayesian methods are still computationally burdensome and heavily linked to particular parametric functional forms, limiting their applicability to...